diff --git a/src/message.c b/src/message.c
index 481236b..0d56759 100644
--- a/src/message.c
+++ b/src/message.c
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@
  * end. Adjust cmdline_row to avoid the next message overwriting the last one.
  * When inside vgetc(), we can't wait for a typed character at all.
  */
-    if (vgetc_busy)
+    if (vgetc_busy > 0)
 	return;
     if (no_wait_return)
     {