if (fork()) {
   $children_spawned++;
   return 1;
} else {

   # Here, the *very first* child won't have $children_spawned
   unless ($children_spawned) {
      print "I'm the first!\n";
      &do_main_with_timed_event_processing;
   } else {
      &do_main_without_timed_events;
   }
}