diff --git a/lib/read-stream-state.js b/lib/read-stream-state.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aebcd518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/read-stream-state.js
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+function State () {
+  this.ended = this._ready = this._reading = this._destroyed = this._paused = false
+}
+
+State.prototype.end = function() {
+  this.ended = true
+  this._destroyed = false
+}
+
+State.prototype.ready = function() {
+  this._ready = true
+}
+
+State.prototype.destroy = function() {
+  this._destroyed = true
+}
+
+State.prototype.pause = function() {
+  this._paused = true
+}
+
+State.prototype.resume = function() {
+  this._paused = false
+}
+
+State.prototype.read = function() {
+  this._reading = true
+}
+
+State.prototype.endRead = function() {
+  this._reading = false
+}
+
+State.prototype.canPause = function() {
+  return !this.ended && !this._paused
+}
+
+State.prototype.canResume = function() {
+  return !this.ended && this._paused
+}
+
+State.prototype.canRead = function() {
+  return !this.ended && !this._reading && !this._paused
+}
+
+State.prototype.canCleanup = function() {
+  return !this.ended && !this._reading
+}
+
+State.prototype.canEmitData = function() {
+  return !this.ended && !this._destroyed
+}
+
+State.prototype.canEnd = function() {
+  return !this.ended
+}
+
+module.exports = function () { return new State() }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/read-stream.js b/lib/read-stream.js
index d937f018..8337a5f2 100644
--- a/lib/read-stream.js
+++ b/lib/read-stream.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ var Stream       = require('stream').Stream
   , bufferStream = require('simple-bufferstream')
   , inherits     = require('util').inherits
   , extend       = require('util')._extend
+  , State        = require('./read-stream-state')
 
   , toEncoding   = require('./util').toEncoding
   , toSlice      = require('./util').toSlice
@@ -28,11 +29,11 @@ var Stream       = require('stream').Stream
     }
   , makeNoData = function () { return null }
 
-
 function ReadStream (options, db, iteratorFactory) {
   Stream.call(this)
 
-  this._status  = 'ready'
+  this._state = State()
+
   this._dataEvent = 'data'
   this.readable = true
   this.writable = false
@@ -59,9 +60,10 @@ function ReadStream (options, db, iteratorFactory) {
 
 
   var ready = function () {
-    if (this._status == 'ended')
+    if (!this._state.canEmitData())
       return
 
+    this._state.ready()
     this._iterator = iteratorFactory(this._options)
     this.emit('ready')
     this._read()
@@ -76,21 +78,22 @@ function ReadStream (options, db, iteratorFactory) {
 inherits(ReadStream, Stream)
 
 ReadStream.prototype.destroy = function () {
-  this._status = 'destroyed'
-  this._cleanup()
+  this._state.destroy()
+  if (this._state.canCleanup())
+    this._cleanup()
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype.pause = function () {
-  if (this._status != 'ended' && !/\+paused$/.test(this._status)) {
+  if (this._state.canPause()) {
+    this._state.pause()
     this.emit('pause')
-    this._status += '+paused' // preserve existing status
   }
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype.resume = function () {
-  if (this._status != 'ended') {
+  if (this._state.canResume()) {
     this.emit('resume')
-    this._status = this._status.replace(/\+paused$/, '')
+    this._state.resume()
     this._read()
   }
 }
@@ -115,44 +118,39 @@ ReadStream.prototype.pipe = function (dest) {
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype._read = function () {
-  if (this._status == 'ready') {
-    this._status = 'reading'
+  if (this._state.canRead()) {
+    this._state.read()
     this._iterator.next(this._onData.bind(this))
   }
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype._onData = function (err, key, value) {
-  if (err)
+  this._state.endRead()
+  if (err || !arguments.length /* end */ || !this._state.canEmitData())
     return this._cleanup(err)
-  if (!arguments.length) // end
-    return this._cleanup()
-  if (this._status == 'ended')
-    return
-  if (/^reading/.test(this._status))
-    this._status = this._status.replace(/^reading/, 'ready')
-  this._read()
+  this._read() // queue another read even tho we may not need it
   this.emit(this._dataEvent, this._makeData(key, value))
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype._cleanup = function (err) {
-  if (this._status == 'ended')
-    return err && this.emit('error', err)
+  if (err)
+    this.emit('error', err)
+
+  if (!this._state.canEnd())
+    return
 
-  var s = this._status
-  this._status = 'ended'
+  this._state.end()
   this.readable = false
 
   if (this._iterator) {
     this._iterator.end(function () {
+      this._iterator = null
       this.emit('close')
     }.bind(this))
   } else
     this.emit('close')
 
-  if (err)
-    this.emit('error', err)
-  else (s != 'destroyed')
-    this.emit('end')
+  this.emit('end')
 }
 
 ReadStream.prototype.toString = function () {
diff --git a/test/read-stream-test.js b/test/read-stream-test.js
index 1c90f780..f491992f 100644
--- a/test/read-stream-test.js
+++ b/test/read-stream-test.js
@@ -655,4 +655,20 @@ buster.testCase('ReadStream', {
         }.bind(this))
       }.bind(this))
     }
+
+  , 'test can only end once': function (done) {
+      this.openTestDatabase(function (db) {
+        db.batch(this.sourceData.slice(), function (err) {
+          refute(err)
+
+          var rs = db.createReadStream()
+            .on('close', done)
+
+          process.nextTick(function () {
+            rs.destroy()
+          })
+
+        }.bind(this))
+      }.bind(this))
+    }
 })
\ No newline at end of file