Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 13/02) - Preston Moss stepped on to school bus No. 3 Tuesday afternoon with all the confidence and determination a four-year-old can muster after his first day of kindergarten.

But that determination would be sorely tried. Little did Preston know he would soon be the object of an RCMP missing child search.

With bright brown eyes and a mischievous grin, Preston was dressed in a beige safari shirt decorated with giraffes. On his back he was wearing a big green Scooby-Doo backpack with a bright yellow photo bus pass.

The pass showed that Preston got on bus No. 7 that morning near his home at SunRidge Apartments. The pass also showed he was to get off for day care at the corner of Lanky Court and Forrest Drive that afternoon.

The bus driver was supposed to take note, and take special care that kindergarten students, like Preston, got off safely. The driver also had a schedule pointing out where the children should disembark.

Guided by school supervisors, Preston got on the right bus at Ecole St-Joseph school where he is in the French immersion program.

His mother, Jennifer Moss, would be at Lanky Court waiting for him when he got off, just before 4 p.m.

Waiting to calm

Moss knew this was Preston's first day of school and wanted to be there when he got off for day care that afternoon. Her welcoming arms would take away some of the fear of Preston being dumped into a whole new world.

Moss watched as the bus came to a squeaking halt and 11 children bounced out. But Preston wasn't one of them, and the bus roared away.

"Where's Preston?" she thought. "Oh my God."

Crying, she called Cardinal Coach Lines, which transports 1,100 students home on 11 buses every afternoon. Cardinal Manager Troy Bowden took the call and contacted the bus driver. Maybe Preston had fallen asleep, as sometimes happens.

But no Preston.

It was now about 4:20 and the driver had finished his route. Hearing about Preston, the driver and Bowden went back over the same streets. Bowden checked playgrounds along the way, photo of Preston in hand.

Where is he?

Moss was terrified and trembling. What if he had wandered into the bush? Or worse, what if someone had taken him?

The bus line was scared, too.

"Can you imagine? My God. It was hellish. We were all scared to death," said Bowden.

The minutes ticked by. The RCMP sent out a force to search for Preston. They quizzed the bus driver, an eight-year veteran who didn't recall dropping off Preston.

But wait: he did remember dropping off a little boy next to J.H. Sissons school, near SunRidge apartments where the Moss family lives.

A check of the apartment found no sign of Preston. By this time, radio stations were broadcasting an alert for the missing boy.

Minutes ticked into hours, passing 6 p.m. As the sun dipped lower, RCMP prepared to increase the size of their search force.

"I was panicking. My four-and-a-half-year-old was missing," said Moss.

Then suddenly, a phone call. Murray Acton had picked up a little boy who matched Preston's description. The boy was walking alone toward Old Town.

Acton had asked Preston if he was lost.

"I'm trying to find my mommy. I could get there faster if you gave me a ride," he replied.

Preston pointed Acton to a house on McDonald Drive.

"My friend lives in that house," he said.

The house he pointed to was where his babysitter lives, the same babysitter who works on Lanky Court.

But no one was home.

Somehow -- whether from the radio or from Preston himself, Acton got Moss's home number. He left a message, but Moss wasn't home. He called the RCMP from his home on Ragged Ass Road.

By this time it was 6:20 p.m., two and a half hours after Preston was supposed to walk off the bus. An RCMP cruiser picked up Moss and reunited her with her son.

Seeing Moss, Preston said, "How did you find me mommy? Oh mommy, my heart almost got broke when I couldn't find you."

She took him home and spoiled the hungry boy, who ate four pieces of pizza and drank a litre of apple juice.

Moss was overjoyed. And she isn't pointing fingers.

"If he (Acton) wouldn't have seen him walking, God knows where he would have ended up," she said. "People make mistakes. I'm just glad my son's home.

Changes at Cardinal

Bowden said there are more kindergarten students riding buses this year than ever before, adding to the confusion.

But the bus company may be making changes all the same. Depending on staff support for the idea, Cardinal could impose a policy requiring parents of first-time students to meet their children at the bus stop, effective immediately.

The bus company could also change its information schedules for drivers, which currently list both drop-off points and home residences. That can be confusing to bus drivers when there are children like Preston, who have homes distant from drop-off points.

Disciplinary action against the bus driver is currently under review.

"I believe it's an honest mistake," said Bowden.