The screen door sticks at the top

The screen door on the back house catches at the top left corner. You feel it as a small stop, then a give, if you push harder. If you lift the handle an inch while you push, it doesn't catch. I have been lifting the handle since May. Guests push and then look at me, and I say lift it, and they do, and the door opens as if it had never been a problem.

The frame is wood under the paint, and the paint at that corner is rubbed through. The house settles, or the door swells, or both. I am not going to plane it. The owner of the front house said the screen was new when I moved in, which was three years ago, and new is a word landlords use for anything that isn't broken in half. It isn't broken in half. It sticks.

I tried a bar of wax on the edge, the same wax I use on the sticky drawer in the kitchen. It helped for a week. Then the catch came back, a little higher than before, which means the door moved and the wax didn't. I wiped the wax off because it was collecting dust and looked worse than the rub in the paint.

Evenings I stand with the door half open and listen to the front house. Their television is a murmur. The lemon tree ticks when a fruit falls, a sound smaller than you expect. The door, held open with my foot, doesn't stick. It only sticks when I want it shut or want it open in a hurry, which is most of the time I touch it. Lifting the handle has become part of leaving. I notice it the way I notice finding the key. If a day comes when I don't have to lift it, I'll probably push too hard and scare myself.