diff --git a/lib/hydra/message.rb b/lib/hydra/message.rb
index a1c0d6d..c2cb9b3 100644
--- a/lib/hydra/message.rb
+++ b/lib/hydra/message.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 module Hydra #:nodoc:
   class Message #:nodoc:
+    def initialize(opts = {})
+      opts.each do |k,v|
+        self.send(k,v)
+      end
+    end
     def self.build(hash)
       hash.delete(:class).new(hash)
     end
diff --git a/lib/hydra/runner.rb b/lib/hydra/runner.rb
index c809162..83d521d 100644
--- a/lib/hydra/runner.rb
+++ b/lib/hydra/runner.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module Hydra #:nodoc:
   class Runner
     def initialize(io)
       @io = io
-      @io.write Hydra::Messages::RunnerRequestsFile.new.serialize
+      @io.write Hydra::Messages::RunnerRequestsFile.new
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/test_runner.rb b/test/test_runner.rb
index 46c3c49..94799ec 100644
--- a/test/test_runner.rb
+++ b/test/test_runner.rb
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ class TestRunner < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @pipe.identify_as_parent
     end
     should "request a file on boot" do
-      @message = Hydra::Message.build(@pipe.gets)
-      assert @message.is_a?(Hydra::Messages::RunnerRequestsFile)
+      assert @pipe.gets.is_a?(Hydra::Messages::RunnerRequestsFile)
     end
     should "return a result message after processing a file" do