Actually, I think it is better to do a close FILEHANDLE; and let perl drop the flock as a part of that close. If you unlock a file and then wait to close, something else could potentially sneak in there at a "bad" time. It isn't supposed to happen but "isn't supposed" is what you are trying to preven with flocking to begin with...

--
$you = new YOU;
honk() if $you->love(perl)