diff --git a/src/lib9/wait.c b/src/lib9/wait.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14af715
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib9/wait.c
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#include <lib9.h>
+
+Waitmsg*
+wait(void)
+{
+	int n, l;
+	char buf[512], *fld[5];
+	Waitmsg *w;
+
+	n = await(buf, sizeof buf-1);
+	if(n < 0)
+		return nil;
+	buf[n] = '\0';
+	if(tokenize(buf, fld, nelem(fld)) != nelem(fld)){
+		werrstr("couldn't parse wait message");
+		return nil;
+	}
+	l = strlen(fld[4])+1;
+	w = malloc(sizeof(Waitmsg)+l);
+	if(w == nil)
+		return nil;
+	w->pid = atoi(fld[0]);
+	w->time[0] = atoi(fld[1]);
+	w->time[1] = atoi(fld[2]);
+	w->time[2] = atoi(fld[3]);
+	w->msg = (char*)&w[1];
+	memmove(w->msg, fld[4], l);
+	return w;
+}
+