Run: 2026-10-08-01M4DA0WGSRPJ2VB7QAEWYJDE3

Molly crouched behind the hedge, peering through the gap in the fence. Balloons bobbed over the back lawn, and a tower of brightly wrapped boxes sat beside a bouncy castle shaped like a giant purple dragon. Bill slid in beside her, holding a clipboard and a pair of binoculars that had clearly been stolen from a birdwatching society. "Right. Phase one. Are we sure this is the right party?" "It says 'Tyler's Ninth Birthday' on the banner," Molly whispered. "Unless you think there's a second kid turning nine in this cul-de-sac who's also having a dragon castle." "Fine, fine. Phase two, then. Where's the security?" Molly pointed at a plump man in a cardboard crown, who was blowing up a balloon with the grim determination of a man defusing a bomb. "That's the entertainment. Wait, no. That's the uncle. Or the clown. Honestly, I can't tell with the face paint." "So basically, no security." "Basically, no security. Just a lot of sugar and one very anxious grandmother guarding the cake." Bill flipped a page on his clipboard. "Okay. The plan. We wait until the piñata is cracked open, everyone rushes the candy, and we slip in during the chaos." "That's the plan? Bill, that's the plan every thief uses at a children's party. Those kids have shoved grown adults out of the way for a single gummy worm." "Which is why we're going to be smarter. We go in dressed as party guests. I brought name tags." Molly squinted at the name tag he held up. It read: HELLO, MY NAME IS BALLOON MAN. "You can't be Balloon Man. That's the uncle." "It's a very popular name, Molly." "Give me the name tag." She snatched it and scribbled over the label. "There. You're now Gerald, cousin from Ohio, here to see his favorite nephew." "I don't have a nephew." "Nobody has to know that." Bill sighed and adjusted his stolen binoculars. "Fine. And what about the presents? We've got to get them out without anyone noticing." "Easy. We wheel them out in that enormous wagon they're using as a cooler. Nobody looks twice at a wagon full of gifts and melting ice pops." "Brilliant," Bill whispered. "Absolutely foolproof." Across the lawn, a small voice shrieked, "THE PIÑATA'S OPEN!" Molly grabbed Bill's collar. "Go, go, go!" They sprinted from the hedge, straight into a stampede of sugar-crazed children, and Bill's clipboard went flying into the bouncy castle. "Gerald!" Molly hissed. "Smile!" "I'm smiling!" Bill yelped, as a toddler in a superhero cape bit him on the ankle.