diff --git a/test/helper-async.js b/test/helper-async.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/test/helper-async.js
+++ b/test/helper-async.js
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ function queued(t) {
   var newT = {
     queue: queue,
     waiton: partial(addStep, queue, waiton, t),
+    wait: partial(addStep, queue, wait, t),
     expect: partial(addStep, queue, expect, t),
     failon: partial(addStep, queue, failon, t),
     shutdown: partial(runTests, queue, t),
@@ -235,6 +236,11 @@ function waiton(t, extra, cmd, pattern, next) {
   }
 }
 
+function wait(t, extra, time, reason, next) {
+  t.ok(true, fmt('%dms pause: %', time, reason));
+  setTimeout(next, time);
+}
+
 function failon(t, extra, cmd, pattern, next) {
   var name = fmt('pmctl %j !~ %s', cmd, new RegExp(pattern));
   console.log('# START failon %s', name);
test: add wait to async test helper