Palimpsest · Palimpsest Productions

Visitations: Cooking with Cora

June 14, 2022·26 min·2 clips

Cora tells Peggy the belladonna tea is hard on the system, then drops a knife from her sleeve and stabs her in the neck.

The episode is a first-person monologue by Cora, a character in the Palimpsest universe, set in what appears to be the 1950s based on references to Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, and Elvis Presley. Cora opens with complaints about convenience food and Good Housekeeping recipes, particularly condemning canned mushroom soup and frozen dinners. She describes herself as an old maid not yet 40, who lives alone with a black cat named Simon in a subdivided old house on Cleaver Street. Her primary joy is cooking, and she grows her own vegetables and herbs, including her own mushrooms on logs. She had been planning to make a Hungarian stew from her grandmother's recipe, with beets, parsnips, carrots, tomatoes, and herbs assembled, but discovered she was out of ribs. Before she could go to the market, a woman named Peggy McAllister appeared on the porch looking disapprovingly at the yard. Peggy announces she was voted the neighborhood's most diplomatic representative to come and complain about the unkempt yard. During the conversation on the doorstep, Cora reveals she has no husband or family—just Simon—which visibly disturbs Peggy. Cora invites Peggy in for tea, observing internally that no suburban matron can resist the opportunity to judge someone else's housekeeping. Peggy is grudgingly impressed by the clean interior and mentions she wants to speak to the landlord—described by Cora as a doctor who always wears black. Over tea, Peggy continues to push about the yard and implies Cora's unmarried status is a problem. Cora grows tired of the conversation and tells Peggy plainly it's none of her business. At this point the belladonna takes effect: Peggy sways, her eyes unfocused, and realizes what she just drank. She stumbles toward the door. Cora drops a kitchen knife from her sleeve and pursues her, kills her efficiently in the foyer with a knife to the throat. Cora acknowledges she normally plans these situations more carefully, with plastic sheeting and proper tools, but characterizes the moment as serendipitous—she needed ribs, and Peggy provided them. She spends the afternoon butchering Peggy, restocking the freezer, and finishing the stew. The episode closes with Cora eating the stew with cornbread while watching Ed Sullivan and offering to send the listener the recipe.

As heard by us

A polite visit curdles into domestic horror with teeth.

Palimpsest turns a polite visit into a slow domestic confrontation, letting tea, weeds, and housework carry the menace long before the violence breaks through.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a houseguest visit where a neglected front yard turns the conversation threatening.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Palimpsest