I was reading about Gabby Petito’s co-workers at the Carolina Beach restaurant Smoke on the Water and their memories of her, and thinking “I wish she’d never left Carolina Beach.”
I was reading an article about people who knew Gabby Petito during her brief time living and working in Carolina Beach NC. Their memories of her made me think I wish shed never left Carolina Beach. So I imagined someone who might have been a regular at the bar where she might have worked had she been a bartender and not a hostess.
One night at Smoke on the Water
She said her folks called her
Their hippie daughter
So I figured
She wouldnt be here to stay
She wasnt ready for college
She wanted some other
Kind of knowledge
Where would she find it
She couldnt say
One day she drove off with her beau
To learn all nature had to teach
I wish shed never left
CAROLINA BEACH
Its not like I really knew her
I wasnt anyone
Special to her
Just a guy
At the bar that she worked behind
Still she remembered my order
Shed beam a smile and say
South of the Border
Any other role that I wanted
Was just in my mind
But as an admirer or a lover
Or a little bit of each
I wish shed never left
CAROLINA BEACH
And that smile
Seemed to light up the room
Soothing as the tide
That rumbled outside
How could something
So cozy and warm
Get carried away by the storm
(Interlude)
They said she left in a hurry
No explanation
No cause for worry
You could see in her eyes
She had rainbows to chase
Now that shes somewhere out there
Far beyond the stars she couldnt reach
I wish shed never left
CAROLINA BEACH