diff --git a/nocopy/types_test.go b/nocopy/types_test.go
index 3f38ceb..8a4911d 100644
--- a/nocopy/types_test.go
+++ b/nocopy/types_test.go
@@ -4,12 +4,28 @@
 package nocopy
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/kelindar/binary"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
+func TestStreamDecodeRetainsStrings(t *testing.T) {
+	type pair struct {
+		First  String
+		Second String
+	}
+
+	want := pair{First: "first", Second: "second"}
+	data, err := binary.Marshal(want)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	var got pair
+	assert.NoError(t, binary.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(data)).Decode(&got))
+	assert.Equal(t, want, got)
+}
+
 type composite map[string]column
 
 type column struct {
diff --git a/reader.go b/reader.go
index 36b2d69..fe8748c 100644
--- a/reader.go
+++ b/reader.go
@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ func (r *sliceReader) Reset(b []byte) {
 // streamReader represents a reader implementation for a generic reader (i.e. streams)
 type streamReader struct {
 	Reader
-	scratch [10]byte
 }
 
 // Reader represents the interface a reader should implement.
@@ -179,12 +178,7 @@ func newStreamReader(r io.Reader) *streamReader {
 
 // Slice selects a sub-slice of next bytes.
 func (r *streamReader) Slice(n int) (buffer []byte, err error) {
-	if n <= 10 {
-		buffer = r.scratch[:n]
-	} else {
-		buffer = make([]byte, n, n)
-	}
-
+	buffer = make([]byte, n)
 	_, err = io.ReadFull(r, buffer)
 	return
 }