My name is Johnny Bravo. Did I tell you I had a nanny once? I did. It was a guy who was famous in his time. He's not alive anymore. Mama and I got the news on his death and twenty years later or so back but I don't really remember now. He was in this family group of rock singers but even sang with a sister of his back in the 1970s until he died. Mama told me my nanny got kidnapped but was murdered during the kidnapping. Mama sounded shocked when she found the article on my nanny's death in the newspaper. She felt horrible for my nanny's family.
We do keep in touch with my nanny's family since he was murdered. We do talk to his adopted son who is also famous and sings as well. He is a retired country music singer who had number one hit albums and number one hit songs. His hits included "I Don't Want to Be Lonely Tonight," "Sleepin' Away Till Midnight," and others I couldn't quite remember. He also recorded duet albums with other famous stars such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, which were also popular albums today on radio as well. I knew I couldn't have a singing career like my nanny and his adoptive son Warren. I can't sing like that. Son Warren played guitar but mostly sang solo instead of duets. He got discovered through a famous rock group, the Beach Boys' leader Brian Wilson. Brian Wilson wanted him to join their group, but it didn't work out and Warren performed on the Sonny and Cher Show for their last five seasons on national television.
That's when he decided he didn't want to perform rock and roll, so he went country after the Sonny and Cher Show went off air. His career in country music was big, all right. He performed and recorded albums until he was well into his 80s or so but I forget now. As I recall, my nanny's adoptive son, Warren, first made it big when he was fifteen years old. He has three children and two grandchildren, two sons and a daughter. I can continue if you'd like about my nanny's adoptive son since he had a complicated family life.
Oh, I forgot to mention my nanny's name since I do know you're wondering who he was. His full name was Donny Osmond. Mama was the one who hired him, but I really wanted a woman to be my nanny but there was no woman Mama liked for the job. She thought I was irresponsible to care for myself so she started looking for somebody to look after me and all, so that's when my nanny Donny Osmond came into the picture. To tell you more about Donny's background, he is the seventh child of the Osmonds and has one sister. He has had several hits in his music career. He even hosted a game show at one point, but it didn't do so well. He most performs in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has eight brothers and one sister, but two brothers who aren't performers. I hear two of his brothers are deaf so they never performed with Donny and his brothers and sister Marie so they performed without them.
Some of my nanny's hits were: Puppy Love, Soldier of Love, Young Love, Sacred Emotion, I Knew You When, to name a few. Mama and I were disappointed when he got murdered during his kidnapping at that time but we were invited to his funeral. We both took it hard but I got over it before Mama did. It took Mama a longer time to get over my nanny's murder – kidnapping a bit longer than myself. We're both over the death now, but Mama's recouping by the day slowly, but I'm over it.
"Johnny, dnner's ready!" I heard Mama call.
"All right, Mama!" I responded back.
I left my bedroom and joined Mama in the kitchen. We ate in silence.
When dinner was almost over, Mama asked, "You've been quiet today, Johnny. Thinking?"
"Yeah, Mama. Just memories," I replied.
"Good ones, I hope," Mama said.
I didn't want to mention to Mama I was thinking about my nanny.
"I was just thinking about my nanny, Mama. That's all," I said.
She didn't answer me. She fell silent.
"You mean Donny Osmond, right, Johnny? That was a hard time for the two of us when he got murdered during his kidnapping, wasn't it?" Mama asked.
"I know it was, Mama. I know you'll never get over it. You were the one who hired him to be my nanny," I reminded her.
We were finished with dinner and I left the kitchen while she did the dishes. I went back to my room. I went through more memories of my nanny. I knew his son Warren had put his family on a prayer list for his entire family because his family had so many issues. For example, his grandson almost died in a car accident when his grandson and granddaughter were sixteen years old and were in high school. Another issue was his daughter was serving life sentence in prison so he decided to add it to the prayer list for the churches around the world as well. He felt that should be included, so he added it to the list. I don't want to add all the issues my nanny's family's problems are, so I don't want to bore you with every single issue so I decided on two of those instead.
A few hours flew by. I saw it was getting late, so I changed into my pajamas and went downstairs and said good – night to Mama, who was watching the late – night news. I walked to the couch where she was sitting and said good – night.