Writing dialog 'Did I do it correctly?'

‘I just want to write it down, I want to itemise what is important, how hard can that be?’ said Nigel as he threw another slip of paper in the bin. He was in a rant, frustrated, and ready to give up. His wife, Nikki, turned away from the sink and spoke calmly as she reached and held his arm with her wet hand, ‘Nigel take a breath, you can do it, but you need to take a step back and see things clearly. Rome was not built in day!’ Suddenly Aimee, their daughter, ran into the kitchen towards Nigel, ‘Daddy, stop shouting, please don't shout!’ she pleaded. Nigel took a deep breath and held Aimee close as she flung her arms around his legs. ‘I am not shouting at you Aimee, or Mummy! I am just not happy with the writing that I have been doing today, go and play in your bedroom, you could draw a nice picture of Nanny.’ Aimee looked sad as she turned towards Nikki, ‘Mummy will you tell daddy to stop shouting?’ she said softly. ‘Yes, yes, go and play in your bedroom Aimee.’ Nikki was becoming agitated at Nigel’s constant interruptions; this was the forth time in a few hours. ‘Nigel!’ she said in a stern teacher type voice, ‘please sit down and forget it for a few hours. Watch the telly or play with the kids, just do something different while you sort it out in your head. I cannot stand this much longer, I am trying to cook the tea, the kids are arguing, and I do not have time to read it again now. I can read it later.’ A silent moment passed as they stared at each other in silence, each with a smile. ‘A fat lot of good that is to me’ Nigel muttered as he walked away, ‘I need to get this written down. I need your input. I thought this was important to us both.’

This was not an argument - it was just a moment of shared frustration. Nigel had been in and out of the kitchen several times with various versions of the same list. Nikki was tired and trying to get the tea and her chores completed by 7:30pm - so she could relax and watch Coronation Street without interruption. In the end, Nigel gave up and ordered the groceries with a repeat order from the 'Tesco' on-line shopping site. ‘You can do the shopping list next week!’ he shouted as he disappeared into the bathroom to write notes on another Hub. Nikki ignored him and finally sat down in her favourite armchair. She turned up the volume and tried not to think about anything domestic as she watched her soap. On the screen Haley, who is really Harold, was cooking in the Roy's Rolls cafe. 'I do hope Daddy remembered the sausages.' Nikki said to Aimee.

Aimee shook her head and started to draw another picture of Nanny.