He received his own dismissal, dated one year back

Alfredo Cendón, rural mailman in Sotos del Iregua, pulls the sack out of the boot and finds an envelope addressed to himself. No stamp, no barcode. Inside:

CORREOS — HUMAN RESOURCES Ref.: 2025/CRR/00821. Date: 12 August 2025. Mr. Alfredo Cendón Vieitez, rural mailman, route 4. We hereby notify you of the termination of your employment relationship, effective 30 September 2025, due to post elimination. Please visit the district office between 09:00 and 14:00 before that date for your settlement. Signed: Ismael Ganso, district manager.

Alfredo looks at the postmark on the back: 12 August 2025. Thirteen months. He checks his cap, his uniform, the leather sack: the same ones he clocked in with yesterday. He puts the envelope on the passenger seat and drives ten kilometres to the district office.

«Alfredo, done with the route already?» Ismael Ganso asks from the office window, without standing up. «Ismael, you signed this thirteen months ago.»

Ismael picks up the letter, reads it, sets it face down on the desk, nudges the keyboard aside with his elbow.

«Doesn't ring a bell. Want a coffee?»

Alfredo sits down, but doesn't touch the cup. Outside, the sack is still in the boot, with twelve more envelopes in his name, one for every month he's kept delivering.

«Ismael, look under the passenger seat,» he says.