diff --git a/LOG b/LOG
index 9e6e8730a5..a346112fd7 100644
--- a/LOG
+++ b/LOG
@@ -1385,3 +1385,5 @@
     s/update-revision, BUILDING
 - export `ee-backward-delete-sexp` binding in the expression-editor module.
     expeditor.ss
+- fix ee_read_char to handle ^@ properly
+    expeditor.c
diff --git a/c/expeditor.c b/c/expeditor.c
index 5a6a50788c..c16865bc1e 100644
--- a/c/expeditor.c
+++ b/c/expeditor.c
@@ -691,11 +691,15 @@ static ptr s_ee_read_char(IBOOL blockp) {
 #endif /* PTHREADS */
 
     if (n == 1) {
-      old_locale = uselocale(term_locale);
-      sz = mbrtowc(&wch, buf, 1, &term_out_mbs);
-      uselocale(old_locale);
-      if (sz == 1) {
-        return Schar(wch);
+      if (buf[0] == '\0') {
+        return Schar('\0');
+      } else {
+        old_locale = uselocale(term_locale);
+        sz = mbrtowc(&wch, buf, 1, &term_out_mbs);
+        uselocale(old_locale);
+        if (sz == 1) {
+          return Schar(wch);
+        }
       }
     }