This past summer I was living with a family in Italy as an "Au Pair" to their children. The day before I arrived they informed me that I would be bunking with a kitten they had rescued the week before because the kitten had been tearing up their curtains and fighting with their older cat. The kitten was sent to live in the basement suite with me for the remainder of the summer.

I naturally became very close with the kitten as he was my only companion for most of the summer when I wasn't with the family. He slept with me every night on my pillow and hung out with me and the boys all day. I loved this kitten to death.

Living in the basement, I had seen and killed my fair share of spiders. I am horribly afraid of spiders so it was never an easy task. I get up one night to use the bathroom, and while I'm sitting on the toilet I see something out of the corner of my eye.

To the right of the toilet in the corner of the wall, underneath the radiator I see the largest spider I have witnessed yet in Italy. It had long spindly legs and an orange or red diamond on it's back from what I remember. I jumped off of the toilet as quick as I could and debated whether or not I should attempt to kill it. I decided it was best to kill it now before it ends up crawling into my bed at night or on the toilet the next time I'm using it.

So I do what I typically do with spiders - which is spray them with my aerosol bottle of hair spray because I'm a coward and don't have the courage to actually go close enough to them to kill them on my own. Usually the hair spray slows them down enough that I can crush them with a shoe without them running at me. Unfortunately this time, that was not the case.

I begin spraying the spider in hopes that he will be weighted down by the liquid and I will have a chance to squish him. Instead, the hair spray detaches him from his web and he drops to the ground. I continue to spray him some more hoping he will be slow down. The spider is too large and the hairspray only angers him. The spiders begins to run directly at me. At this point I'm beyond horrified, so I let out the most girlish scream I can muster.

I then hear the kitten (Paldo) jump off of my bed and come racing around the corner as fast as he can. He actually slid on his side because he came running so quickly. At this point I am still spraying the spider frantically with my hair spray hoping it will eventually give up. I quickly grab Paldo because I don't want the spider jumping on him, or him eating a spider covered in hair spray.

Luckily the spider was covered in hairspray to the point that he could no longer run and I was able to repeatedly crush the spider with my shoe until I was certain it was dead. I finally let Paldo down and he immediately went to investigate the dead spider.

I realize that Paldo the kitten didn't directly save me from the spider, but he did come to my rescue when he thought I was in danger! It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen a cat do. Leaving him at the end of the summer was on of the hardest things I've had to do and I still miss him dearly.