diff --git a/src/aout.rs b/src/aout.rs
index 2cac670..b690eb2 100644
--- a/src/aout.rs
+++ b/src/aout.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 use core::fmt;
 use std::ffi::{c_uchar, c_ushort};
 
+use crate::operands::{Byte, Word};
+
 #[allow(non_camel_case_types)]
 pub type c_long = i32; // we use a a.out with 32 byte
 
@@ -10,8 +12,8 @@ pub type c_long = i32; // we use a a.out with 32 byte
 /// Internal representation of the a.out binary format.
 pub struct Aout {
     pub header: Header,
-    pub text: Vec<u8>,
-    pub data: Vec<u8>,
+    pub text: Vec<Byte>,
+    pub data: Vec<Word>,
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for Aout {
@@ -46,11 +48,15 @@ impl Aout {
 
         let text_section = &buf[text_start..text_end];
         let data_section = &buf[data_start..data_end];
+        let data_words: Vec<Word> = data_section
+            .chunks_exact(2)
+            .map(|chunk| u16::from_le_bytes(chunk.try_into().unwrap()))
+            .collect();
 
         Aout {
             header: hdr,
             text: Vec::from(text_section),
-            data: Vec::from(data_section),
+            data: Vec::from(data_words),
         }
     }
 }