"Can... can you make something that can turn animals intelligent? Like as intelligent as a human being?"
The old lady nodded enthusiastically. "We can do that and more, my little dude! That's Ralph's department. I handle the human stuff, he handles the freaky stuff, dig?"
Max chuckled as the old hippie dude - Ralph, apparently - excitedly flipped up his old rounded shades and grew a big smile behind his incredibly unkempt beard. Max decided he looked like some kind of pot smoking wizard. He leaned over the desk excitedly.
"Far out, my dude! So, like, what do you want to do? You wanna turn one of our four legged friends into a higher life form? Put 'em on, like, two legs like us? Make 'em able to talk? Cause all that and more I can do, you dig?"
"Wow..." Max considered, eyes widening. He was somewhat startled. "I-I hadn't really... thought that far."
"Yeah! I blew your mind!" Ralph flipped an excited thumbs up. "No, little dude, I can do anything and everything! So, like, lay it on me. What kind of critter are we talking about?"