fix bug 1044068 - Prevent 'Cannot call execute of null' errors

This is a working PR and should be treated as such.  Likely lots of conversation below.

Still to complete:

- [x] - A test to confirm my PR prevents the issue.
The `key(opts,'body')` doesn't change from each part of the waterfall, fwiw:

```
kumascript:request:a1e8f05380e89d13dea3596461787cea:body
kumascript:request:a1e8f05380e89d13dea3596461787cea:body
kumascript:request:a1e8f05380e89d13dea3596461787cea:body
```