The author discusses an interesting document from Aleksandr Kondratov's legacy - an exercise book from 1956, when he studied at the Leningrad militia school. It contains dictation exercises and short essays, which reflect Soviet current affairs of the time, as well as notes on grammar. Many of its contents prefigure Kondratov's later writings, both linguistic and poetical, in particular his texts 'Chasti rechi' and 'Tam, za stenoj'.