Obviously, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has never read Lydia and Don Freeman's "Pet of the Met." The classic children's book (from 1953) tells the story of an urbane mouse, Maestro Petrini, who works and lives in the famed opera house. His job is to turn the pages of the prompter's libretto.

The Associated Press just reported that the Department found "evidence of mice or live mice present [in the Metropolitan Opera's] food and/or nonfood areas, [but] The Department did not issue a notice of violation against the Met because the inspection found 13 violation points -- below the average of 15 for New York City restaurants."

The vermin population might had grown because the Met's "food [is] not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service" or because its "plumbing [is] not properly installed or maintained."

But it could just be that the Met needs someone to turn pages for its prompter! It's all right there in "Pet of the Met."

And the Department or Met shouldn't even try to get a cat, not after seeing what "The Magic Flute" did to Mefisto, the cat hired to catch Petrini. As he is about to eat Petrini on stage during a productino of Mozart's opera, the music charms the cat and the two go on to be friends.