#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
$|++;

my $fruit = [ qw|apple orange pear| ];
my $dispatch = {
    add => sub { return add_entry( $fruit ) },
};

print scalar localtime, "\n";
sleep 1;
print &{ $dispatch->{add} }, " <-- from sub \n";;
sleep 1;
print scalar localtime, "\n";

sub add_entry{
    print scalar localtime, " <--   in sub \n";
    sleep 1;
    return scalar localtime;
}

__END__

produces:
Sat Apr 27 19:00:21 2002
Sat Apr 27 19:00:22 2002 <--   in sub 
Sat Apr 27 19:00:23 2002 <-- from sub 
Sat Apr 27 19:00:24 2002