diff --git a/read.scm b/read.scm
index f02f74de..2bbdf138 100644
--- a/read.scm
+++ b/read.scm
@@ -698,7 +698,8 @@
   " Cyc_io_read_token(data, k, port);")
 
 (write
-  (read-token (open-input-file "test.scm")))
+  (parse2 (open-input-file "test.scm")))
+  ;(read-token (open-input-file "test.scm")))
 
 ;; Notes on writing a fast parser:
 ; - Interface to the user is (read). This needs to be fast
@@ -729,8 +730,19 @@
 
 (define (parse2 fp)
   (let ((token (read-token fp))) ;; TODO: this will be a C call
+    ;(write `(token ,token))
     (cond
       ;; Open paren, start read loop
+      ((eq? token #\()
+       (let loop ((lis '())
+                  (t (parse2 fp)))
+         (cond
+           ;; TODO: EOF
+           ((eq? t #\))
+            (reverse lis))
+           (else
+            (loop (cons t lis) (parse2 fp)))))
+      )
       ;; Close parent, stop current read loop
       ;; Quote
       ;; , - could be unquote or unquote-splicing
diff --git a/runtime.c b/runtime.c
index f1c3b0e7..1e24caf7 100644
--- a/runtime.c
+++ b/runtime.c
@@ -5719,12 +5719,13 @@ void _read_whitespace(port_type *p)
         break; // Return if buf is empty
       }
     }
-    p->buf_idx++;
     if (p->mem_buf[p->buf_idx] == '\n') {
+      p->buf_idx++;
       p->line_num++; // Ignore col_num since we are just skipping over chars
       p->col_num = 0;
       break;
     } else if (isspace(p->mem_buf[p->buf_idx])) {
+      p->buf_idx++;
       p->col_num++;
     } else {
       break; // Terminate on non-whitespace char
@@ -5747,7 +5748,7 @@ void _read_return_atom(void *data, object cont, port_type *p)
   p->buf_idx--;
   p->col_num--;
 
-  p->tok_buf[p->tok_end + 1] = '\0'; // TODO: what if buffer is full?
+  p->tok_buf[p->tok_end] = '\0'; // TODO: what if buffer is full?
   p->tok_end = 0; // Reset for next atom
   printf("TODO: return atom from %s\n", p->tok_buf);
   return_closcall1(data, cont, boolean_f);