Actually you should compare using a bare block (no BEGIN) which is the standard (older) way to have "state" variables.

I like 'state' but the old way is still useful if you need a pair of cooperating subs (or more):

% steph@ape (/home/stephan) %
% cat state_old.px
#!/usr/bin/perl+

{
  my $var = 10; 
  sub next1 { ++$var; }
  sub next1_odd {
      if ($var % 2 == 0) {
          ++$var;
      }
      else {
          ++$var; 
          ++$var;
      }
  }
}

$\ = qq{\n};
print next1() for 1..5;
print next1_odd();

% steph@ape(/home/stephan) %
% perl+ -w state_old.px
11
12
13
14
15
17
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