Presented herein are a system, method, and apparatus for retrieving an object from memory. The object can be stored in a manner, such that the first byte of the object and the last byte of the object are in the middle of the memory data words. The object is retrieved by a direct memory access controller. The direct memory access controller, when provided with a read transaction with the starting address and the ending address of the object, retrieves the data words storing the object, and overwrites the portions of the data word that precede and follow the object.