Run: 2026-07-25-01KYD6MA7PJH6XQYFW5C7RPH46

Molly unfolded the crayon-drawn map across the hood of the car. "Okay, Bill. The Henderson kid turns seven on Saturday. Two o'clock party. Every parent in the neighborhood is bringing a present." Bill squinted at the drawing. "Is that a dog or a trampoline?" "It's the bounce house, Bill. Focus. We go in through the back gate at two-fifteen, right when they're doing the piñata. Nobody watches a gift table during a piñata. It's science." "What if somebody watches the gift table?" "Then we improvise." "Last time we improvised, I spent four hours in a hedge pretending to be a garden gnome." "And it worked, didn't it?" "It rained, Molly." Molly rolled her eyes and tapped the map. "Here's the beautiful part. I've got us costumes. We're going in as entertainers." Bill went pale. "Not the clown thing again. You know about my nose thing." "Not clowns. Magicians. The Amazing Bill and his lovely assistant." "Why am I not the lovely one?" "Because you cried during the magic kit unboxing video." "It was emotionally scored, Molly. There was a montage." She handed him a cape. "We roll in with a trunk. We do fifteen minutes of card tricks. Kids love card tricks. While I'm pulling a rabbit out of a hat, you back the trunk up to the gift table and start loading." "What rabbit?" "There's no rabbit. That's the trick. I stall while you load." "Stall how?" "Bill, you improvise a rabbit." "You're putting my entire freedom in the hands of an imaginary rabbit." "It's called showmanship." Molly checked her list. "Now, the presents. We grab everything. Bikes, game consoles, that Lego castle the rich aunt always brings." "What about the little presents? The ones the kids wrapped themselves?" Bill went quiet. "Molly. The lumpy ones? With the seventeen pieces of tape?" "Everything, Bill. We're professionals." "I'm not stealing something a kid made out of macaroni." "Fine. Macaroni stays. Everything else goes in the trunk." "What if a kid sees me?" "Tell them you're the present inspector. It's a very important job. Government position." "Kids don't know what the government is." "Exactly. Unimpeachable cover." She folded the map. "Escape route is through the neighbor's yard. Mrs. Chen waters her roses at two-thirty sharp, facing away from the fence. We've got a ninety-second window." "And if the window closes?" "Then you smile, wave, and do your magician bow." "My magician bow is terrible." "Then practice, Bill. We leave Saturday with forty presents or we leave as local legends who got chased by a bouncy castle full of second graders." Bill sighed and put on the cape. "Fine. But if there's a piñata, I'm keeping a stick." "That's the spirit."