The steps at Christ’s feet

The steps leading to the platform are spotless. There isn't a cigarette butt or piece of used gum to be seen and every square inch of concrete is without blemish. Hundreds of tourists are perched on the platform that overlooks the city beneath His gaze. Their oversized shoes make no sound on the ground as they pass the man in the yellow overalls.

The man is using a long-handled dust-pan and brush. He digs at the corners of each step with the worn brush to make sure every last speck is removed. Despite the intense glare of his yellow overalls in the mid-morning sun, the uniform fails to give him any substance against the asphalt grey surfaces, and the tourists don‘t notice him. The man grooms the concrete without complaint as the only witness to his work admires him from 200 ft above.

Like a flock of feeding birds, the tourists chirp back and forth incoherently all over the base of the statue. Camera shutters open and closing send sounds like hands clapping through the air. As the tourists applaud the perfection of the concrete and soap stone, vultures circle overhead in hope of spotting a morsel missed by the cleaners of Corcovado.