diff --git a/path.go b/path.go
index 1c86b54..3384122 100644
--- a/path.go
+++ b/path.go
@@ -183,9 +183,10 @@ func probePath(n node, tail []string, steps []pathStep) ([]pathStep, error) {
 // drawSteps draws the rows and variants a path's steps read from n, pinning the rows in pins;
 // pins is nil for a sibling path, which never crosses a table, since a table is only a category.
 // For a read through a name, memo keeps the variant drawn at each of levels, so paths sharing a
-// prefix share it. It returns the leaf and the pins its row is in: a step down after a step up draws
-// afresh, into pins of its own, which memo shares with every path stepping down there.
+// prefix share it. It returns the leaf and the pins its row is in.
 func drawSteps(s *drawstate.State, n node, steps []pathStep, pins *pinSet, memo *drawMemo, levels []pickKey) (node, *pinSet) {
+	// climbed is the table a ".." stepped up to. The next step down from it draws its row afresh,
+	// into pins of its own, which memo shares with every path of the pick stepping down there.
 	var climbed *rowsTable
 	for _, st := range steps {
 		if c, ok := n.(*choice); ok {
diff --git a/table.go b/table.go
index 97648b5..4eed165 100644
--- a/table.go
+++ b/table.go
@@ -266,11 +266,13 @@ func (t *table) route(tail []string, descended bool) (tableRoute, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return tableRoute{}, err
 	}
-	// A selector further down pins this table by ancestry, so the walk draws only
-	// where none follows; drawing first could draw a row the selector is not inside.
-	r := tableRoute{sel: sel, draw: sel == "" && (descended || len(tail) > 0) && !grammar.HasSelector(tail)}
+	selected, readsRow := sel != "", descended || len(tail) > 0
+	// A selector further down pins this table by ancestry; drawing first could draw a row the
+	// selector is not inside.
+	pinnedBelow := grammar.HasSelector(tail)
+	r := tableRoute{sel: sel, draw: !selected && readsRow && !pinnedBelow}
 	switch {
-	case len(tail) == 0 && sel == "" && !descended:
+	case !selected && !readsRow:
 		r.next = t
 	case len(tail) == 0:
 		r.next = t.rowNode