This man was so mean. . .he'd never share good things (jelly beans) but he would share nasty things (like chicken pox -- with baby, nurse and cat). He'd pick flowers in the park, and pop people's balloons, and never smile or say hello. ""I mean he was mean""; and then he met his match. The two were wed (no guests invited) and after a staring--contest honeymoon they settled down until the babies came. Those kids were mean, and their old man got just what he deserved, the silly goose, when they left him. The touch-of-violence colors of Ungerer, the determined outlines of Mrs. McCully's Gooney, a near-slapstick approach to chronic spitefulness that should good humor sulking children, undermine moody parents.