diff --git a/packages/pg-protocol/src/b.ts b/packages/pg-protocol/src/b.ts
index 267d211c..dbf9f52e 100644
--- a/packages/pg-protocol/src/b.ts
+++ b/packages/pg-protocol/src/b.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@
 
 import { Writer } from './buffer-writer'
 import { serialize } from './index'
+import { BufferReader } from './buffer-reader'
 
 const LOOPS = 1000
 let count = 0
 let start = Date.now()
 const writer = new Writer()
 
+const reader = new BufferReader()
+const buffer = Buffer.from([33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 0])
+
 const run = () => {
   if (count > LOOPS) {
     console.log(Date.now() - start)
@@ -15,8 +19,8 @@ const run = () => {
   }
   count++
   for(let i = 0; i < LOOPS; i++) {
-    serialize.describe({ type: 'P'})
-    serialize.describe({ type: 'S'})
+    reader.setBuffer(0, buffer)
+    reader.cstring()
   }
   setImmediate(run)
 }
diff --git a/packages/pg-protocol/src/buffer-reader.ts b/packages/pg-protocol/src/buffer-reader.ts
index 68dc89ca..cb7d4e3b 100644
--- a/packages/pg-protocol/src/buffer-reader.ts
+++ b/packages/pg-protocol/src/buffer-reader.ts
@@ -8,36 +8,44 @@ export class BufferReader {
 
   constructor(private offset: number = 0) {
   }
+
   public setBuffer(offset: number, buffer: Buffer): void {
     this.offset = offset;
     this.buffer = buffer;
   }
-  public int16() {
+
+  public int16(): number {
     const result = this.buffer.readInt16BE(this.offset);
     this.offset += 2;
     return result;
   }
-  public byte() {
+
+  public byte(): number {
     const result = this.buffer[this.offset];
     this.offset++;
     return result;
   }
-  public int32() {
+
+  public int32(): number {
     const result = this.buffer.readInt32BE(this.offset);
     this.offset += 4;
     return result;
   }
+
   public string(length: number): string {
     const result = this.buffer.toString(this.encoding, this.offset, this.offset + length);
     this.offset += length;
     return result;
   }
+
   public cstring(): string {
-    var start = this.offset;
-    var end = this.buffer.indexOf(0, start);
-    this.offset = end + 1;
-    return this.buffer.toString(this.encoding, start, end);
+    const start = this.offset;
+    let end = start
+    while(this.buffer[end++] !== 0) { };
+    this.offset = end;
+    return this.buffer.toString(this.encoding, start, end - 1);
   }
+
   public bytes(length: number): Buffer {
     const result = this.buffer.slice(this.offset, this.offset + length);
     this.offset += length;
diff --git a/packages/pg-protocol/src/parser.ts b/packages/pg-protocol/src/parser.ts
index 69a9c28b..14573e62 100644
--- a/packages/pg-protocol/src/parser.ts
+++ b/packages/pg-protocol/src/parser.ts
@@ -214,11 +214,8 @@ export class Parser {
     const fields: any[] = new Array(fieldCount);
     for (let i = 0; i < fieldCount; i++) {
       const len = this.reader.int32();
-      if (len === -1) {
-        fields[i] = null
-      } else if (this.mode === 'text') {
-        fields[i] = this.reader.string(len)
-      }
+      // a -1 for length means the value of the field is null
+      fields[i] = len === -1 ? null : this.reader.string(len)
     }
     return new DataRowMessage(length, fields);
   }
@@ -290,8 +287,8 @@ export class Parser {
 
   private parseErrorMessage(offset: number, length: number, bytes: Buffer, name: MessageName) {
     this.reader.setBuffer(offset, bytes);
-    var fields: Record<string, string> = {}
-    var fieldType = this.reader.string(1)
+    const fields: Record<string, string> = {}
+    let fieldType = this.reader.string(1)
     while (fieldType !== '\0') {
       fields[fieldType] = this.reader.cstring()
       fieldType = this.reader.string(1)
diff --git a/packages/pg/bench.js b/packages/pg/bench.js
index b5707db7..4fde9170 100644
--- a/packages/pg/bench.js
+++ b/packages/pg/bench.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ const run = async () => {
   queries = await bench(client, seq, seconds * 1000);
   console.log("sequence queries:", queries);
   console.log("qps", queries / seconds);
-  console.log("on my laptop best so far seen 1209 qps")
+  console.log("on my laptop best so far seen 1309 qps")
 
   console.log('')
   queries = await bench(client, insert, seconds * 1000);