 What is the tone like throughout the story?
It was exactly as he knew it would be: the milky-orange stream had become motionless and its minute whirlpools had stopped whirling; a nearby bee hung suspended over a paka plant, its transparent wings frozen in position for a downward stroke; and the heavy purple fluid overhead held fast in its manufacture of whorls and nimbi. He ran along feeling sorry for four-year-olds, and even for those who were only four and a half, for they were babies and wouldn't dare try slipping away to the ocean alone. He chose to ignore the negative maxim that "small children who stop time without an adult being present, may not live to regret it." The ocean lay at the ready, its stilled waves awaiting his command to resume their tidal sweep. The breakers along the shoreline hung in varying stages of disarray, some having already exploded into towering white spray while others were poised in smooth orange curls waiting to start that action. Overhead, a flock of spora were frozen in a steep glide, preparatory to a beach landing. Some distance behind them were eight more, each of whom were motionless in a curious pose of interrupted animation. When he got no reaction, he remembered that he himself was "dead" to the living world: he was still in a zone of time-stopping, on the inside looking out. For him, the world would continue to be a tableau of mannikins until he resumed time. "There is, there is.
 Joyous to sad
 Happy throughout  Calm to intense  Sad throughout  Joyous to sad