diff --git a/broker.js b/broker.js
index c62eed4..816791a 100644
--- a/broker.js
+++ b/broker.js
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ module.exports = function (
 		this.topicPartitions = {}
 	}
 
-	Broker.prototype.fetch = function (topic, partition, maxSize) {
-		this.client.fetch(topic, partition, maxSize)
+	Broker.prototype.fetch = function (topic, partition, maxSize, cb) {
+		this.client.fetch(topic, partition, maxSize, cb)
 	}
 
 	Broker.prototype.publish = function (topic, messages) {
diff --git a/client.js b/client.js
index a72c643..a58375f 100644
--- a/client.js
+++ b/client.js
@@ -54,10 +54,16 @@ module.exports = function (
 		return this.ready
 	}
 
-	Client.prototype.fetch = function (topic, partition, maxSize) {
+	// cb: function (err, length, messages) {}
+	Client.prototype.fetch = function (topic, partition, maxSize, cb) {
 		return this._send(
-			new FetchRequest(topic.name, topic.offset, partition, maxSize),
-			topic.parseMessages.bind(topic)
+			new FetchRequest(
+				topic.name,
+				topic.offset,
+				partition,
+				maxSize
+			),
+			cb
 		)
 	}
 
diff --git a/consumer.js b/consumer.js
index 1b56923..19404ee 100644
--- a/consumer.js
+++ b/consumer.js
@@ -17,11 +17,25 @@ module.exports = function (
 
 	Consumer.prototype.consume = function (topic, interval, partitions) {
 		console.assert(Array.isArray(partitions))
-		var owner = this.owners[topic.name] || new Owner(this.allBrokers)
-		owner.addPartitions(partitions)
-		owner.interval = interval
-		this.owners[topic.name] = owner
-		owner.consume()
+		var name = topic.name
+		var owner = this.owners[name] || new Owner(topic, this.allBrokers)
+		this.owners[name] = owner
+		owner.consume(partitions, interval)
+	}
+
+	Consumer.prototype.stop = function (topic, partitions) {
+		if (!topic) { // stop all
+			var topics = Object.keys(this.owners)
+			for (var i = 0; i < topics.length; i++) {
+				this.stop(topics[i])
+			}
+		}
+		var name = topic.name
+		var owner = this.owners[name]
+		owner.stop(partitions)
+		if (!owner.hasPartitions()) {
+			delete this.owners[name]
+		}
 	}
 
 	return Consumer
diff --git a/example.js b/example.js
index d4a01be..dbe1664 100644
--- a/example.js
+++ b/example.js
@@ -1,7 +1,16 @@
 var Kafka = require('./index')
 
 var kafka = new Kafka({
-	zookeeper: 'localhost:2181',
+	//zookeeper: 'localhost:2181',
+	brokers: [{
+		id: 0,
+		host: 'localhost',
+		port: 9092,
+		topics: {
+			foo: 2,
+			bar: 2
+		}
+	}],
 	compression: 'gzip',
 	queueTime: 2000,
 	batchSize: 200
@@ -9,23 +18,22 @@ var kafka = new Kafka({
 
 kafka.connect(function () {
 
-	var foo = kafka.topic('foo')
-	var bar = kafka.consume('bar', 200)
+	//var foo = kafka.topic('foo')
+	var bar = kafka.consume('bar', 200, ['0-0', '0-1'])
 
 	bar.on(
 		'message',
 		function (m) {
-			console.log("bar offset: " + bar.offset)
 			console.log(m.toString())
 		}
 	)
 
 	setInterval(
 		function () {
-			foo.publish("the time is: " + Date.now())
-			bar.publish("a random number is: " + Math.random())
+			bar.publish("the time is: " + Date.now())
+			//foo.publish("a random number is: " + Math.random())
 		},
-		5
+		100
 	)
 
 	}
diff --git a/owner.js b/owner.js
index 3510f39..5fb3830 100644
--- a/owner.js
+++ b/owner.js
@@ -1,17 +1,92 @@
 module.exports = function () {
 
-	function Owner(brokers) {
-		this.brokers = brokers
+	function handleResponse(err, length, messages) {
+		if (err) {
+			return this.topic.error(err)
+		}
+		if (length === 0) {
+			//TODO no new messages, backoff
+			return
+		}
+		this.offset += length
+		this.topic.parseMessages(messages)
+		this._loop()
+	}
+
+	function fetch() {
+		this.broker.fetch(this.topic, this.partition, this.maxSize, this.fetchResponder)
+	}
+
+	function Partition(topic, broker, partition) {
+		this.topic = topic
+		this.broker = broker
+		this.partition = partition
 		this.interval = 0
+		this.offset = 0
+		this.maxSize = 300 * 1024 //TODO set via option
+		this.fetcher = fetch.bind(this)
+		this.fetchResponder = handleResponse.bind(this)
+		this.timer = null
+	}
+
+	Partition.prototype._loop = function () {
+		if (this.interval) {
+			this.timer = setTimeout(this.fetcher, this.interval)
+		}
+	}
+
+	Partition.prototype.start = function () {
+		this.fetcher()
+	}
+
+	Partition.prototype.stop = function () {
+		clearTimeout(this.timer)
+	}
+
+	Partition.prototype.reset = function () {
+		this.stop()
+		this.start()
 	}
 
-	Owner.prototype.addPartitions = function (partitions) {
+	function Owner(topic, brokers) {
+		this.topic = topic
+		this.brokers = brokers
+		this.partitions = {}
+	}
 
+	Owner.prototype.consume = function (partitions, interval) {
+		for (var i = 0; i < partitions.length; i++) {
+			var name = partitions[i]
+			var split = name.split('-')
+			if (split.length === 2) {
+				var brokerId = +split[0]
+				var partition = +split[1]
+				var broker = this.brokers.get(brokerId)
+				var pc = this.partitions[name] || new Partition(this.topic, broker, partition)
+				pc.interval = interval
+				pc.reset()
+				this.partitions[name] = pc
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
-	Owner.prototype.consume = function () {
+	Owner.prototype.stop = function (partitions) {
+		if (!partitions) { // stop all
+			partitions = Object.keys(this.partitions)
+		}
+		for (var i = 0; i < partitions.length; i++) {
+			var name = partitions[i]
+			var p = this.partitions[name]
+			if (p) {
+				p.stop()
+				delete this.partitions[name]
+			}
+		}
+	}
 
+	Owner.prototype.hasPartitions = function () {
+		return Object.keys(this.partitions).length > 0
 	}
 
 	return Owner
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/protocol/fetch-request.js b/protocol/fetch-request.js
index 69da449..8137a42 100644
--- a/protocol/fetch-request.js
+++ b/protocol/fetch-request.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ module.exports = function (
 	// REQUEST_HEADER = See REQUEST_HEADER above
 	// OFFSET   = int64 // Offset in topic and partition to start from
 	// MAX_SIZE = int32 // MAX_SIZE of the message set to return
-	FetchRequest.prototype.serialize = function (stream) {
+	FetchRequest.prototype.serialize = function (stream, cb) {
 		var payload = new Buffer(12)
 		int53.writeUInt64BE(this.offset, payload)
 		payload.writeUInt32BE(this.maxSize, 8)
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ module.exports = function (
 	}
 
 	FetchRequest.prototype.response = function (cb) {
-		return new Response(FetchBody)
+		return new Response(FetchBody, cb)
 	}
 
 	return FetchRequest
diff --git a/static-connector.js b/static-connector.js
index 68fe64a..d6109aa 100644
--- a/static-connector.js
+++ b/static-connector.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ module.exports = function (
 	// }
 	function StaticConnector(options) {
 		var self = this
+		this.options = options
 		this.allBrokers = new BrokerPool()
 		this.producer = new Producer(this.allBrokers)
 		this.consumer = new Consumer(options.groupId, this.allBrokers)
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ module.exports = function (
 		this.options.brokers.forEach(
 			function (b) {
 				var broker = new Broker(b.id, b.host, b.port)
-				Object.keys(b.topics).forEach(
+				Object.keys(b.topics).forEach( //TODO would be great to get rid of this
 					function (t) {
 						broker.setTopicPartitions(t, b.topics[t])
 					}
@@ -57,9 +58,13 @@ module.exports = function (
 	}
 	inherits(StaticConnector, EventEmitter)
 
-	StaticConnector.prototype.consume = function (topic, interval, options) {
-		console.assert(options)
-		this.consumer.consume(topic, options)
+	StaticConnector.prototype.consume = function (topic, interval, partitions) {
+		console.assert(partitions)
+		this.consumer.consume(topic, interval, partitions)
+	}
+
+	StaticConnector.prototype.stopConsuming = function (topic, partitions) {
+		this.consumer.stop(topic, partitions)
 	}
 
 	StaticConnector.prototype.publish = function (topic, messages) {
diff --git a/topic.js b/topic.js
index 17b9e37..3c5e6b1 100644
--- a/topic.js
+++ b/topic.js
@@ -4,23 +4,17 @@ module.exports = function (
 	MessageBuffer) {
 
 	function Topic(name, connector, compression, batchSize, queueTime) {
-		this.offset = 0
 		this.name = name || ''
-		this.partitions = []
 		this.connector = connector
 		this.ready = true
-		this.compression = 0
+		this.compression = compression
 		this.messages = new MessageBuffer(this, batchSize, queueTime, connector)
 		EventEmitter.call(this)
 	}
 	inherits(Topic, EventEmitter)
 
-	Topic.prototype.parseMessages = function(err, length, messages) {
-		if (err) {
-			return this.emit('error', err)
-		}
+	Topic.prototype.parseMessages = function(messages) {
 		var self = this
-		this.offset += length
 		for (var i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
 			//XXX do we need to preserve the order?
 			messages[i].unpack(
diff --git a/zkconnector.js b/zkconnector.js
index 2c5b430..6aca111 100644
--- a/zkconnector.js
+++ b/zkconnector.js
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ module.exports = function (
 		this.brokerReady = function () {
 			self.emit('brokerReady', this)
 		}
+		this.pendingConsumers = []
+		this.registerConsumers = registerConsumers.bind(this)
 		this.consumer = new Consumer(options.groupId, this.allBrokers)
 		this.connect()
 		EventEmitter.call(this)
@@ -92,19 +94,28 @@ module.exports = function (
 
 	}
 
-	ZKConnector.prototype.consume = function (topic, interval) {
-		var self = this
-		//TODO: need to be able to consume an array of topics
-		if (!this.consumerRegistered) {
+	function registerConsumers() {
+		if (this.pendingConsumers.length > 0) {
+			var self = this
+			this.consumer.foo(this.pendingConsumers) //TODO name me
 			this.zk.registerConsumers(
 				this.consumer,
-				function (partitions) {
-					self.consumer.consume(topic, interval, partitions)
+				function (topicPartitions) {
+					for(var i = 0; i < topicPartitions.length; i++) {
+						var tp = topicPartitions[i]
+						self.consumer.consume(tp.topic, tp.interval, tp.partitions)
+					}
 				}
 			)
+			this.pendingConsumers = []
 		}
 	}
 
+	ZKConnector.prototype.consume = function (topic, interval) {
+		this.pendingConsumers.push({topic: topic, interval: interval})
+		process.nextTick(this.registerConsumers)
+	}
+
 	ZKConnector.prototype.publish = function (topic, messages) {
 		return this.producer.publish(topic, messages)
 	}