Luck Magnet Girl

Loess Village runs on talk, and the talk is that some people carry luck with them. Alodia is five. She lives with her aunt Rhea, who cares about boys and not about her, and she is on her own most of the time. Then Jade takes her in, a widow the village has opinions about. After that Jade's herb business, which had been failing, starts making money. The bills get paid. Things keep going right. People decide the quiet child is a luck magnet and that fortune follows wherever she goes. Rhea hears about it and comes back around. Larry Greene, the village chief, hears the rumors too and tries to take Alodia back. Jade refuses. Osmond and the neighbors help her, and between them they show the village what Rhea is like.