diff --git a/common/load.cc b/common/load.cc
index 3d3d92c..4b0be03 100644
--- a/common/load.cc
+++ b/common/load.cc
@@ -42,8 +42,6 @@ std::string load_string( bool use_colors,
   std::ostringstream ss;
   ss.setf( std::ios::fixed, std::ios::floatfield );
   ss.precision( 2 );
-  double averages[num_averages];
-  // based on: opensource.apple.com/source/Libc/Libc-262/gen/getloadavg.c
 
   if( num_averages <= 0 || num_averages > 3)
   {
@@ -51,6 +49,9 @@ std::string load_string( bool use_colors,
     return ss.str();
   }
 
+  double averages[3];
+  // based on: opensource.apple.com/source/Libc/Libc-262/gen/getloadavg.c
+
   if( getloadavg( averages, num_averages ) < 0 )
   {
     ss << " 0.00 0.00 0.00"; // couldn't get averages.