Free Slow Apocalypse by John Varley Page A

and gave Ranger about half of it. He moved a few items to form a crude barrier between the horse and Karen’s Mercedes, then found a tub and filled it with water. He tried to imagine the scene when Karen arrived home the next evening to find that part of their garage had been converted into a stable.
    Dave and Karen didn’t speak much when he picked her up at the airport. That had become the new norm in their relationship.
    When they got home Dave kept trying to start a conversation about the current political and social situation, the uncertainty everyone was feeling, but it was hard to get her interested in current events. She might very well go to work for a group whose purpose was to obtain extra gas allotments for poor people who were unable to get to their jobs, but she seemed oblivious to the fact that rationing was going to make big changes in her life, too.
    As they were finishing their dinner there was a loud neighing sound from outside. Karen frowned, and started to get up.
    “That’s Ranger,” Dave said. Karen stopped, and sat back down.
    “And what is Ranger doing here?” she asked.
    “Well, it’s a long story, and sort of complicated, and not all that easy to believe,” he admitted.
    She gave him a long, hard stare.
    “You probably think I haven’t noticed some strange goings-on around here,” she said, evenly. “Well, whatever it is you’re trying to hide from me, I guess now’s the time to get it all out.”
    “I wasn’t hiding it, exactly. Well…maybe I was. I was hoping for a better time to tell it all to you. Because, I admit, it’s a lot to swallow.”
    She rested her chin on her fist and gave him a flat stare.
    “Please do go on,” she said.
    Her eyes were hard as nails, and he had the sinking feeling that he was doomed before he even started. But she was right, it was time to get it all out in the open.
    “It begins with Colonel Warner,” he said, and talked nonstop for half an hour.
    It might not have been the best pitch he ever gave, but it was the most heartfelt, and the audience was tough. Karen’s expression never changed throughout the story. She said nothing for a long time. Addison kept looking back and forth between her parents. When Karen spoke there was no hint of emotion in her voice.
    “And what do you propose to do about this?” she asked.
    That was not what he had expected, and he hoped it was a good sign.
    “Well, I’ve stocked up on gasoline and a lot of other essentials, in case food might be hard to get for a while. How long do you think the food in markets and warehouses will last if the trucks and trains don’t keep rolling, bringing it all in from all around the country?”
    “I’m sure I have no idea.”
    “Well, I don’t have an exact time, either, but I suspect it would be only a few weeks. Maybe less.”
    “Again, what do you propose to do about it?”
    He took a deep breath. He hadn’t told Addison about this, nor anyone else.
    “I originally thought we’d hunker down, sit it out right here. We could last for months with what I’ve put away. But if people are getting hungry, if people are
starving
, as I suspect they soon will be, then we would have to defend it all. So I think the best idea is to get out of here while we can. Los Angeles will soon become untenable.”
    “Get out of here,” she said, in the same quiet voice. “And go where?”
    “What we need is a place with fertile land, adequate rainfall, and hydropower. And that means, to me, the Pacific Northwest. Oregon and Washington, Idaho. British Columbia, if they would take American refugees.”
    “Refugees.” Her expression still hadn’t changed. “You really think Americans are going to become refugees.”
    “I was thinking, we could go visit your brother. Martin has a big house, most of their children moved out. We could stay with him until we got settled.”
    He was suddenly feeling very tired. He had said all he had to say until he heard something from her. Which