diff --git a/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/CallTest.java b/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/CallTest.java
index a3c425eab..9b194b670 100644
--- a/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/CallTest.java
+++ b/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/CallTest.java
@@ -34,11 +34,13 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+import java.util.concurrent.SynchronousQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
@@ -1285,6 +1287,44 @@ public final class CallTest {
         .assertRequestHeader("Accept-Encoding", "gzip");
   }
 
+  @Test public void asyncResponseCanBeConsumedLater() throws Exception {
+    server.enqueue(new MockResponse().setBody("abc"));
+    server.enqueue(new MockResponse().setBody("def"));
+    server.play();
+
+    Request request = new Request.Builder()
+        .url(server.getUrl("/"))
+        .header("User-Agent", "SyncApiTest")
+        .build();
+
+    final BlockingQueue<Response> responseRef = new SynchronousQueue<Response>();
+    client.newCall(request).enqueue(new Callback() {
+      @Override public void onFailure(Request request, Throwable throwable) {
+        throw new AssertionError();
+      }
+
+      @Override public void onResponse(Response response) throws IOException {
+        try {
+          responseRef.put(response);
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+          throw new AssertionError();
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
+    Response response = responseRef.take();
+    assertEquals(200, response.code());
+    assertEquals("abc", response.body().string());
+
+    // Make another request just to confirm that that connection can be reused...
+    executeSynchronously(new Request.Builder().url(server.getUrl("/")).build()).assertBody("def");
+    assertEquals(0, server.takeRequest().getSequenceNumber()); // New connection.
+    assertEquals(1, server.takeRequest().getSequenceNumber()); // Connection reused.
+
+    // ... even before we close the response body!
+    response.body().close();
+  }
+
   private RecordedResponse executeSynchronously(Request request) throws IOException {
     Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();
     return new RecordedResponse(request, response, response.body().string(), null);
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Call.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Call.java
index ce17cdaf2..e9be59990 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Call.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Call.java
@@ -146,13 +146,13 @@ public final class Call {
           responseCallback.onFailure(request, new IOException("Canceled"));
         } else {
           signalledCallback = true;
+          engine.releaseConnection();
           responseCallback.onResponse(response);
         }
       } catch (IOException e) {
         if (signalledCallback) throw new RuntimeException(e); // Do not signal the callback twice!
         responseCallback.onFailure(request, e);
       } finally {
-        engine.close(); // Close the connection if it isn't already.
         dispatcher.finished(this);
       }
     }
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Callback.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Callback.java
index 50e1899ff..963828b52 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Callback.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/Callback.java
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ public interface Callback {
   /**
    * Called when the HTTP response was successfully returned by the remote
    * server. The callback may proceed to read the response body with {@link
-   * Response#body}.
+   * Response#body}. The response is still live until its response body is
+   * closed with {@code response.body().close()}. The recipient of the callback
+   * may even consume the response body on another thread.
    *
    * <p>Note that transport-layer success (receiving a HTTP response code,
    * headers and body) does not necessarily indicate application-layer