  The small or zero cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, probably results from a
macroscopic cancellation mechanism of the zero-point energies. However, nearby
horizon surfaces any macroscopic mechanism is expected to result in imperfect
cancellations. A phenomenological description is given for the residual
variable cosmological constant. In the static, spherically symmetric case it
produces approximate black holes. The model describes the case of exponential
decay by $\Box\ln\Lambda=-3a$, were $a$ is a positive constant.
