The powerful surge of humid, fecally poisoned
air that lingers in a public bathroom stall after a user unleashes a particularly odorous mass of excrement. A solid globe of invisible
fog that slowly dissipates from the toilet outward. The steamwake cannot be
seen, it can only be detected by the next user upon desperately entering the stall, as all of the other ones will be occupied. This person must be pitied in the utmost, as they cannot leave the wake of
steam (or steamwake) and they must either hold their breath until asphyxiation demands that they take a breath, or willingly allow the steamwake to envelop them and enter their lungs with a mixture of methane,
water vapor, and microscopic traces of whatever food items (probably
spoiled) that the previous user digested and expelled.
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the teacher who unwittingly entered the steamwake left behind after my morning deuce. It was my steamwake, and he didn't deserve to have to
go through that on a day
like today.
The rancid steamwake left behind after a seemingly reputable coworker
left the stall made me question everything I valued about humanity.