The following article is about our Megillah Family member, Abe Amchin

Some people when they reach their 80s are happy enough to just sit back and observe the world, while others, like Four Courts Senior Center resident Abe Amchin, choose to report on their world for others instead. Amchin, who turned 81 in March and has just written and published his first book, is one of them. Entitled Apples and Oranges: A Mystery at a Senior Condominium, his book chronicles the tale of seniors living in Florida whose lives are turned upside down by the discovery of a body floating in their lake.

He named the story’s major characters after his parents, Lou and Dora, and included many of the experiences he and his wife, Rita, also a Four Courts resident, encountered when they lived in a Florida condo. “I describe the kind of life Rita and I lived in this book,” Amchin told an audience gathered at an author’s reception held in his honor at Four Courts on February 18. “I talk about the fun times, the flirtatious times, the early bird dinners and the inevitable doctors visits.” He also aroused the listeners’ curiosity when he mentioned that when the body was found in the lake, there was no water in the drowned man’s lungs!

Amchin wrote the book for two reasons. One was to satisfy his urge to write a novel. He had taken a few writing courses, and challenged himself to complete a work of fiction. The second reason was to heighten awareness of myositis, a chronic neuromuscular disease from which he suffers.

Myositis causes muscle weakness and has several forms: one causes an uncomfortable skin rash while another affects children. Amchin says that because of it rarity (less than 50,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with the ailment), physicians often fail to recognize the symptoms. Patients with the disease hope that greater education will lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment.

Apples and Oranges was a real family affair since Amchin’s son, Robert, designed the cover and his daughter-in-law, Deborah, did the editing. His six grandchildren provided moral support. If you would like to find out the answer to the book’s mystery, you might just have to order a copy of Apples and Oranges for yourself. You can do so by e-mailing www.xlibris.com/bookstore or contacting your local bookstore.

This article was authored by Phyllis Shaikun

You can see the Gantseh Megillah review of Abe's book at http://www.pass.to/tgmegillah/zoomreviews.asp?id=32

For more information about myositis, you can visit the Myositis Association web site at www.myositis.org.