lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm | 4 ++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
index ef9db43e637d6c51113d0d04d1c1bd56e5b9b3fc..da7cd74fe8cb1628f6884b36d29b61c9c230ea7e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
@@ -247,9 +247,9 @@ 		$async->async_pass($env->{'psgix.io'}, $fh,
 					delete($self->{hdr_buf}));
 	} else { # for synchronous PSGI servers
 		require PublicInbox::GetlineBody;
+		my $buf = delete $self->{hdr_buf};
 		$r->[2] = PublicInbox::GetlineBody->new($self->{rpipe},
-					\&event_step, $self,
-					${$self->{hdr_buf}}, $filter);
+					\&event_step, $self, $$buf, $filter);
 		$wcb->($r);
 	}
 }