# This part works beautifully...

$pathToFiles = '/home/pencilneckgeek/files';
$tempDir = '/home/pencilneckgeek/tmp/' + random(10000);

mkdir($tempDir) or die "mkdir: $!\n";

$origFile = "$pathToFiles/theFile.txt";
$theLink  = "$tempDir/theFile.txt";

symlink($origFile, $theLink) or die "symlink: $!\n";

# do some stuff...
...
# now, here's where the problem lies...

unlink($theLink) or die "unlink: $!";