--- a/mercurial/minirst.py	Fri Apr 27 00:46:05 2018 -0400
+++ b/mercurial/minirst.py	Fri Apr 27 00:50:08 2018 -0400
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
         if not itemre.match(line1):
             return False
         if singleline:
-            return line2 == '' or line2[0] == ' ' or itemre.match(line2)
+            return line2 == '' or line2[0:1] == ' ' or itemre.match(line2)
         else:
             return line2.startswith(' ')