Imagine for a minute that you're in a crowded elevator. It's just past five o'clock and everyone is heading down to the lobby, eager to get home from a busy day at the office and relax for the evening. After the elevator maintains its awkward silence through ten floors of passenger pickups, it finally reaches your destination. As everyone begins to politely file their way out of the elevator you hear two solitary words, spoken softly and nearly inaudibly from somewhere behind you: "My buddy." You turn slightly to see where it came from but it's too late. The crowd has dispersed into the atrium and it's just you and your memories.

You try to forget about it. You get in your car, turn on some catchy music and try to put the whole thing behind you. By the time you arrive home the whole incident is barely even remembered... until you lock the car and start toward the house. And then there it is, in the back the back of your head...

"My buddy, my buddy..."

You catch yourself and try to shake it off. Maybe a little TV will help distract you from that annoying jingle. You settle in for back-to-back episodes of The Simpsons on TBS and let your troubles drift away. Hunger pangs start to kick in after a little while, so you head to the kitchen to put some dinner together. As you prep your ingredients and move from chopping the potatoes to grating the cheese, you're really getting into a rhythm, so you start to whistle a little. What's that tune you're whistling? You're not sure where it came from -- somewhere in your youth perhaps -- and then the words come back to you...

"...Wherever I go, he goes."

Try as you might, you can't escape the curse that has befallen you. You've been "My Buddied," and only the sweet relief of a deep sleep can take that cursed song out of your head. Your only recourse: A dose of Tylenol PM, an early bed time, and the knowledge that you can always pass along the sister curse -- The Kid Sister -- to an unsuspecting soul in the morning.

A note of credit is due to Jay Karr for coming up with this devious maneuver. Please, take great care in executing the My Buddy. With great power, etc.