--- ncurses/base/lib_getch.c
+++ ncurses/base/lib_getch.c	2012-07-31 09:50:17.972509406 +0000
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ static NCURSES_INLINE int
 fifo_pull(SCREEN *sp)
 {
     int ch;
-    ch = sp->_fifo[head];
+    ch = (head != -1) ? sp->_fifo[head] : ERR;
     TR(TRACE_IEVENT, ("pulling %s from %d", _nc_tracechar(sp, ch), head));
 
     if (peek == head) {