fMessaging::check returning true upon first call .. ?

In my config.php file I set up some "global" (or common) stuff, then I initiate the session and create a default template instance. On the line after that, I do:

if (fMessaging::check ('fatal', '/app'))
    die ('foo1');

And the application immediately terminates (with "foo1" being output). It seems like fMessaging::check returns true regardless of if that particular message is set or not. What am I doing wrong?

If I force an emptying of the message queue for the particular section, prior to the first check(), like so:

fMessaging::retrieve ('fatal', '/app');
if (fMessaging::check ('fatal', '/app'))
    die ('foo1');

I get the expected result.