BEGIN{
    my %array_copy = ();
    sub elements(\@;$){
        my $no_gc = $_[0]; # Hold onto $_[0] so it doesn't get garbage collected .
        $array_copy {$_[0]} = () unless defined $array_copy{$_[0]}; # Assign empty list if new.

        $_[1] = 1 unless $_[1] ;                    # Get one element if none specified.

        my @vals = splice(@{$_[0]}, 0, $_[1] );     # Pop elements.

        if (@vals){                                 # If elements to return
	push @{$array_copy{$_[0]}},@vals;		# Push elements into temp copy.
            return @vals;                           # then return them.
        }else{
            @$no_gc  = @{$array_copy {$_[0]}};  # Array now restored.
            delete $array_copy{$_[0]};          # Free array copy
            return ;                            
        }
    }
}