# main loop
while (1) {
    # do stuff
    # check for event
    my $event = check_for_event();
    # now check for event and fork a child to deal with it
    # fork returns 0 to child, child PID to parent, undef if fails
    if ( $event  and fork ==0 ) {
        # this is a child process
        sleep $whatever;
        do_stuff($event);
        # kid has done what was required so kill it
       exit 0;
    }
    # parent is continuing here, kid never gets here
}