Run: 2026-10-09-01M4G03T3NDH9K5B1MFDZ29WQV

Molly crouched behind the hedge, peering through the gap at the glowing windows of number twelve. Balloons bobbed against the porch railing. Somewhere inside, a hundred tiny voices shrieked with joy. Bill slid in beside her, clutching a clipboard he'd clearly stolen from a dentist's office. "Right. Phase one. Are we sure about the timing?" "Positive. The party's been going for two hours. The sugar's peaked and the parents are in the kitchen pretending they're not drinking wine." "And the presents?" "Stacked in the front room, under the tree. Forty-three of them, according to my spy." Molly tapped her nose. "The spy is Gerald's six-year-old daughter, but she's very reliable." Bill flipped a page. "Do we have a distraction?" "Better than a distraction. We have a bouncy castle." She grinned. "Phase two. Deflate it." "You want to let the air out of a bouncy castle while thirty children are on it?" "Only the back corner. Slowly. It'll sag just enough to make the kids tumble into the ball pit, and every adult will rush to the garden to handle the screaming." Bill winced. "That is horrifically cruel." "That is strategic. Now grab the gift bags. The shiny ones with the tissue paper. Nobody notices a missing shiny bag." "I notice a missing shiny bag," Bill muttered. "Usually I notice when I'm the one carrying it." Molly ignored him and pulled a plastic clown mask from her coat. "Put this on." "Why? We're meant to be invisible." "Because the clown is the only thing that scares the parents enough to stop looking at us." She shoved it into his hands. "Trust me. I've done this before." "You've done this before at a wedding." "And nobody noticed a thing." She checked her watch. "Okay. Go to the side gate. When the cake comes out, you give the signal." "What signal?" "Sneeze loudly. Everyone says bless you, and nobody looks at the back door." Bill sighed, pulled on the mask, and crept toward the gate. Behind him, Molly slipped through the shrubs like a shadow, humming a tune that sounded suspiciously like "Happy Birthday." Inside, somebody yelled, "Who wants cake?" A dozen tiny voices cheered. Bill sneezed so violently the clown mask flew off. "Bless you!" called a dozen adults in unison. Molly grinned from the dark, a tissue-wrapped box already tucked under her arm. "Phase three," she whispered. "Pretend we were never here."