diff --git a/basis/ui/tools/listener/listener.factor b/basis/ui/tools/listener/listener.factor
index 2829c214e2..4710b29c71 100644
--- a/basis/ui/tools/listener/listener.factor
+++ b/basis/ui/tools/listener/listener.factor
@@ -152,8 +152,9 @@ M: interactor stream-readln
 
 M:: interactor stream-read-unsafe ( n buf interactor -- count )
     n [ 0 ] [
+        drop
         interactor interactor-read dup [ "\n" join ] when
-        n short head-slice 0 buf copy
+        n short [ head-slice 0 buf copy ] keep
     ] if-zero ;
 
 M: interactor stream-read-partial-unsafe