--- a/tincan.py	Tue May 21 15:57:15 2019 -0700
+++ b/tincan.py	Tue May 21 16:01:53 2019 -0700
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@
                 self.expression_types['load'] = \
                     _LoaderFactory(base, subdir, encoding)
             self.expression_types['lload'] = \
-                _LoaderFactory(os.path.join(base,_WINF,"tlib"), None, encoding)
+                _LoaderFactory(os.path.join(base,_WINF,"tlib"), [], encoding)
 
 class _LoaderFactory(object):
     """
@@ -235,14 +235,11 @@
         self.params = based_on
 
     def __call__(self, target, engine):
-        if self.params.subdir is None:
-            npath = os.path.join(self.params.base, self.path.lstrip('/'))
-        else:
-            try:
-                normalized = _normpath(self.params.subdir, self.path)
-            except IndexError:
-                raise ValueError("invalid path: {0!s}".format(self.path))
-            npath = os.path.join(self.params.base, *normalized)
+        try:
+            normalized = _normpath(self.params.subdir, self.path)
+        except IndexError:
+            raise ValueError("invalid path: {0!s}".format(self.path))
+        npath = os.path.join(self.params.base, *normalized)
         with open(npath, "r", encoding=self.params.encoding) as fp:
             contents = fp.read()
         value = ast.Str(contents)