This is a part of chapter 14 of Astrid and her Undersea Dome that just isn’t working.  I cut it out and started over, but thought I would share this “deleted scene”.

Astrid’s aunt took her by the hand and pulled her down the hall to the glass-enclosed solarium that looked down over a sloping hill framed in palm trees, and to the beach beyond.  Waiting there was Paige Liebowitz, as well as a man and two women that the girl inventor had never met.  The man was tall and thin, wearing a green pin-striped vest and slacks.  His hair and mutton chop sideburns were bushy and his thick mustache was waxed into extravagant curls at the end.  The women were both in their early twenties and were both very thin.  The first, with long blond hair that completely covered her eyes, wore bell-bottoms and a long-sleeved turtleneck sweater.  The other, her head shaved into a bright pink Mohawk, was clad in a silver sheath dress.

“Mr. Estanto is my personal shopper,” said Penelope with a wave toward the strange trio.  “He and his assistants go wherever I need them to make sure I always look good.”

“Um, I usually just shop at the Main Street Dress Emporium,” said Astrid.  “That or SmartandSassyGirl.com.”

“Astrid,” said her aunt in a loud whisper.  “You have to remember that we’re rich.”

“I don’t usually think about money that much.”

“Not thinking about money is something that only rich people can choose to do.  Now come on.  I’ve given Mr. Estanto your sizes.

At that moment, Denise and the two Valeries entered through the outside door.

“Come in, come in,” said Mr. Estanto in a rather nasal voice.  “I’ve got just the things for you girls… oh my…”

His voice trailed off as he stared at Robot Valerie.

“My dear, I love your hair, but however did you get your skin that color?”

“I was born this way,” replied Valerie.

“No you weren’t,” said Regular Valerie.  “You’re a robot.”

“Oh yeah.  I forgot.”

Astrid and her friends all took seats around the room and Mr. Estanto’s two assistants opened a huge case that was sitting in the corner.  They pulled out a series of stylish dresses and waved them around before the girls’ faces.  Before any of them could get a good look at a style, Mr. Estanto had rejected it and thrown it back into the trunk.  By the time he had made his selections, their heads were spinning.  With new dresses pressed into their hands, the four girls were guided into a nearby bathroom to change by the personal shopper’s two assistants.

“This is beautiful,” said Denise, when she had climbed into a sleeveless burgundy design.

“Only you could pull that off,” said Valerie.  “I hope we all don’t have to be as skinny as a twig in order to fit into our dresses.”

“I’m not that skinny,” said Denise, scrunching her nose.  “Here, I’ll help you squeeze into yours.”

“How do I look, Astrid?” Valerie asked, as Denise zipped her up.  Her dress was bright yellow, with spaghetti straps.

“You look lovely,” said her Robotic twin, now wearing an electric blue version of the same outfit.

“Um, don’t you think these dresses are a little small?” asked Astrid.  The other girls turned to find her looking at herself in the mirror.  A thick strap held up the blue dress by wrapping around her neck, leaving much of her back bare.  Her dress, like the others, was cut several inches above the knee.  “We’re only fourteen.  We’re not supposed to be looking all hotsy-totsy, are we?”

“Hotsy-totsy?” wondered Denise.  “Who says that?”

“Let’s go see what Mama says,” Robot Valerie told her human twin.  “If she likes them, then they’re fine.”

“Let’s all go,” said Astrid, leading the three other girls out of the bathroom, and then out the door of the solarium and across the lawn to Antherium House.

“No!  En absolute!” shouted Mrs. Diaz, when she saw them.

Within an hour, Mr. Estanto and his assistants had been escorted off the property, Penelope Maxxim had received the tongue-lashing of a lifetime in a combination of Spanish and English, and the girls were dressed in clothes that they had brought with them—stylish but age-appropriate.